Custom Meta vs Smart Custom Fields

Head-to-head on the signals that matter, from the public WordPress.org data.

Health D45

Health A87

Active-install trajectory

Custom Meta moved down one install band, 800+ to 700+. That's a single step across the whole window, so there's no trajectory to draw. The download trend below moves daily.

Metric	Custom Meta	Smart Custom Fields
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	700–800	50K–60K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-13%	0% ✓
Overall health	D · 45	A · 87 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	3/100	97/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	74/100	89/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (weighted for review count)	4.0★	4.5★ ✓
Reviews	1	21 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	32/100	90/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	High	Low ✓
Last updated	17.8y ago	4mo ago ✓
Downloads · 30d	161	9.3K ✓
Install conversion Active installs over lifetime downloads. Downloads include every update, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower.	1.8%	13% ✓
Category	Admin & Utilities	Uncategorized

✓ marks the stronger plugin on each row. Rows where they're level show no marker.

Release activity

Custom MetaSmart Custom Fields

7-day average daily downloads. Downloads spike for about a week after each release as the install base re-downloads, so read this as release cadence, not growth.